Kaden watched Estelle with an intriguing expression. The woman's name certainly rang a bell to him, as it was the same name as one of the Empire's hands in the future.

'I was wondering where the FireBorn was, but who would have thought…' he mused inwardly, looking at the beaten woman in front of him.

Did this woman somehow succeed in her vengeance and, in time, reach so high as to create such a powerful family?

Somehow, Kaden didn't doubt that possibility. Because even as he stood in front of her, Kaden could feel something inside of him reacting strongly to the woman before him.

A feeling like seeing a long-lost sibling after eons apart.

Kaden didn't need to think much to know where this feeling came from.

'White Phoenix…' he thought inwardly, unable to stop the smile creeping into his flaming face, 'This woman has something in relation with the White Phoenix.'

Now that was getting interesting.

He was not the only one feeling it, either. Estelle felt something too, though for her, it was far stronger, because all of this was new and yet familiar.

Kaden reached out his hand and placed it under her chin. Slowly, he lifted her head to make her look at him.

Crimson eyes against black eyes.

Now that he looked deep into her gaze, Kaden noticed her eyes were flickering like black fire. Deep and voracious.

His smile widened, "Estelle," he called, making the woman shiver, "I will need you to do something for me. In exchange, I will unlock the power you cannot seem to realize inside yourself."

He smiled, "Are you willing?"

Estelle's mind flooded with questions, yet years of enduring an abusive husband gave her the mental fortitude to pull herself together quickly.

She bit her swollen, torn lips, wincing at the pain, but she clenched her jaw and forced herself to speak, "W-Who… who are you?" she stammered, needing to know who — or what — stood before her.

Kaden tilted his head, then made an expression of realization, "Oh!" he exclaimed, "I didn't present myself yet, right?"

His face could not be seen except for his red eyes. Everything else was composed of crimson-gold fire tainted with star-like hues, making him look like something not meant for human form.

Estelle couldn't help but be mesmerized. Something in that fire called out to her — whispered to her — like an echo of blood she didn't know she had.

Kaden, meanwhile, was thinking of a name to give himself. He didn't want to use his real name. Nor did he want to use The Harvester or anything similar.

He felt like giving himself another name.

Another face.

So he searched through his mind, yet, for some strange, persistent reason, his thoughts were dragged to one single name. No other name seemed to stick.

So Kaden accepted it.

"For who I am," he continued, leaning his face toward Estelle's own. The woman's heart skipped a beat, feeling how impossibly warm and comforting his presence was.

"You can call me Prometheus." He smiled, his flaming mouth twisting into a devil-like grin.

Flames dripping down.

"And you, Estelle FireBorn, have been chosen as my agent."

"Take my hand, burn yourself for me, and I shall give you the head of your loving husband on a plate made of his entrails."

"No!" Estelle growled, shaking her head with vehement denial, then pushed her face closer to Kaden's despite the unbearable heat radiating from him. Her skin began to sizzle, and yet she didn't care.

"I will kill him." She pressed her forehead to Kaden's, her skin burning, her nerves screaming, yet she didn't falter. "I will kill him myself, Prometheus! Me! No one else!"

Her voice dripped with fury. And the more Kaden's fire scorched her, the more her eyes flickered like black flames.

Kaden grinned.

"That," he said, and his entire fire erupted to shroud Estelle and burn her from the inside out, "will also do."

A shriek of agony rang through the chamber, smothered instantly by Kaden's intent.

Estelle clung to him, refusing to let go, her eyes locked to his with chilling intensity as something inside her finally broke open.

A mad smile twisted her face. "…Ashes…" she growled, "ASHES!!!"

The fire of Kaden, tainted with the lineage of the White Phoenix, began to awaken inside Estelle another lineage.

Another bloodline…one believed lost to time.

The bloodline of the Black Phoenix.

…

In another place, one shrouded in perpetual shadows with moon-shaped light illuminating only a portion of it, Aurora stood tall, facing a being no one could truly see except for the outline of his shape.

A man, if one looked closely enough.

It was as if he was woven into the darkness itself.

"Why have you come here, last descendant of Stars?" The man — Sirius Moonborn, Patriarch of the Moonborn family — spoke to Aurora.

The woman herself was observing the darkness with what seemed like curiosity. She smiled at Sirius's words, and in that moment, something appeared inside her hand.

Sirius's eyes widened at the sight of it.

Aurora could not see him, but she could sense the shock rippling from him.

And such a reaction was expected, because what she held in her hand was a Starlight Shard. Something only their family could create. Something only formed at the brink of death.

And the one she held… was the shard his father had created. But it was incomplete, most of its radiance devoured by the Sun Empress.

"This… why?" Sirius finally managed to say.

Aurora smiled softly, "You were a good friend to my father," she said, "and he wished to give you the last part of himself before joining the stars."

Sirius's body shook ever so slightly.

"So here, take it. And I will have fulfilled my duty as his child."

Silence wrapped the void, until Sirius shattered it with a hoarse whisper, "Reckless, little girl." He said it as if trying to bury the tremor in his voice. "I could use this to do horrible things."

Aurora shrugged, "Then do so, uncle."

Once again, Sirius fell silent. A heartbeat later, the Starlight Shard vanished from Aurora's hand.

Aurora smiled and crushed a runic teleportation token without hesitation, her task complete. As her body began to blur away, she heard Sirius's last words drifting through the darkness.

"You have awakened… finally." He whispered, his voice now holding an unmistakable note of happiness. "I am glad."

Aurora smiled, managing to speak before she fully vanished.

"I am, uncle. And they will soon feel the consequences of it."

She disappeared, leaving behind an unfathomable, endless darkness.

Sirius exhaled slowly.

"Then as Moon," he murmured, "I shall let you shine."

…

In a dark alley, Aurora appeared back, her starry eyes immediately snapping toward the being leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

She smiled, "Missed me, my dear knight?"

Kaden scoffed, "You took your time."

Aurora shrugged and approached him, holding his arm playfully, "Missed me?" she asked again.

Kaden sighed, "Yes, of course, my lady. I cannot bear the feeling of being far away from your esteemed self."

Aurora suppressed a laugh. "Even if it's a lie, it's still pleasing to the ears and I accept it gladly." Then, with her tone growing a notch more serious, "How did it go?"

Kaden smirked. "Better than I expected."

"Did you kill him and do what you planned?" she asked again, her hand closed around his right arm, which in turn lingered dangerously near her breast.

He shook his head. "No," he said, "I found the wife interesting. And she wanted to do it herself."

Aurora raised an eyebrow. "The wife?" she echoed. "Is she capable?"

"I believe she is. Or rather… will be soon."

"Not so sure? Why let her do it? I thought you pretty much hated the knight."

"Hate?" Kaden shook his head. "That's a big word for a man like him. I merely didn't fancy seeing his face again, so I vowed to do myself a favor and eradicate it from the face of the world."

"Petty," Aurora stifled a laugh, "yet you let the woman do it. Why? Do you perhaps fancy the face of the wife instead of the husband?" Her voice at the end was cold, a tone and cadence that made Kaden, weirdly, remember someone in his life.

Who?

Before the thought formed, Aurora nudged him with cold eyes, interrupting him.

Kaden smiled. "She is burning for vengeance," he said. "It's always easier to control the mind of those. Give her the means to do it and observe. Once what drives her forward settles… the only step ahead is to thank the one who gave her the opportunity." His mind worked in a strange, meticulous way.

'With my blood oath on her, she has no choice anyway. She is mine.' he added inwardly.

Aurora was surprised by his thinking. 'How old is he?' she wanted to ask, but she did not want to strike herself with the answer. After all, that meant her heart was beating far faster than it should for a child.

Better not know. Ignorance is bliss, as they said.

"Will you do the same as me?" she countered.

"You are my lady," Kaden said, looking at her with warm eyes, "I would never."

Aurora bit the inside of her lips and controlled her body enough not to show the effect these words had on her.

She barely succeeded.

"So, ready for the next?" he asked softly.

Aurora refocused, exhaled to soothe the tension, and nodded. "Please, dear knight."

Kaden smiled and took out the two artifacts from before, activating them and causing a silver portal to ripple into existence before them.

"This time, my lady, we do it my way," he warned. Aurora, still unwilling to let go of his arm, nodded with a wide smile.

"This time, my dear… I will be the one following orders."

Kaden laughed.

And so they stepped inside the silver portal.

—End of Chapter 326—

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